A damaged cargo plane has thrown the schedule for the Argentinian Grand Prix at Termas de Rio Hondo into chaos.
One of the planes carrying some cargo from Indonesia to Argentina crashed, leaving the cargo stranded in Mombasa, Kenya and delaying its arrival on the Termas de Rio Hondo route.
Due to a lack of bikes for several teams – including the Gresini Ducati team of MotoGP champion Enea Bastianini – it has been decided to cancel practice for all three classes on Friday and start the weekend on Saturday.
The problem is twofold. On the other hand, bikes from several teams – including MotoGP team Gresini and VR46, and team Marc VDS in Moto2 – will only be delivered to the paddock on Thursday night.
The bikes hadn’t been cleaned after the race in Indonesia, and the MotoGP cyclists, who rode in the rain, needed a very thorough cleaning. It took the mechanics of one team three hours just to clean the bikes from Mandalika.
The other problem is that it’s not just the lack of bicycles. Equipment suppliers’ crates were also affected, meaning spare helmets, gloves, leathers, boots, etc. were also missing.
Usually, at least one skin will be used with a racing bike, but a backup is needed in case a collision cannot be avoided.
A lack of bicycles and spare equipment made it all but impossible to get ready for Friday morning, and created unsafe working conditions for parking workers. Mechanics having to work for just a few hours of sleep is a risk for all involved.
When Friday was cancelled, a new schedule was set up for Saturday. It was a very active day, with two practice sessions per class on Saturday morning/early afternoon. Moto3 and Moto2 have two sessions of 40 minutes and MotoGP have two sessions of 45 minutes.
Qualifiers then went on as usual on Saturday afternoon, the only difference being that FP4 for MotoGP is now FP3.
Warm-up has also been extended for all three classes, Moto2 and Moto3 lasting 20 minutes, MotoGP half an hour. The new schedule appears below:
| Time | Class | Meeting |
| Saturday | ||
| 08:45-09:25 | Moto3 | FP1 |
| 09:40-10:20 | Moto2 | FP1 |
| 10: 35-11: 20 | MotoGP | FP1 |
| 11:35-12: 15 | Moto3 | FP2 |
| 12:30-13: 10 | Moto2 | FP2 |
| 13: 25-14: 10 | MotoGP | FP2 |
| 14: 35-14: 50 | Moto3 | Q1 |
| 15: 00-15: 15 | Moto3 | Q2 |
| 15: 30-15: 45 | Moto2 | Q1 |
| 15: 55-16: 10 | Moto2 | Q2 |
| 16: 25-16: 55 | MotoGP | FP3 |
| 17:05-17:20 | MotoGP | Q1 |
| 17: 30-17: 45 | MotoGP | Q2 |
| Sunday | ||
| 09:30-09:50 | Moto3 | WUP |
| 10:00-10:20 | Moto2 | WUP |
| 10:30-11:00 | MotoGP | WUP |
| 12h00 | Moto3 | Race (21 laps) |
| 13:20 | Moto2 | Race (23 laps) |
| 15h00 | MotoGP | Race (25 laps) |
Source: Dorna
